You have to understand that the "joys of owning a motorcycle" fade quickly when all you deal with on a daily basis is motorcycles. The point is that everyone thinks their bike is special. But what these people need to grasp is just one tiny little amendment to the statement. And that is: their bike may be special, but only to them!
As a mechanic, I'd like to think like I treat every motorbike that I work on as if it were my own. But I must admit that I only used to think this way when I first started and was still wet around the ears and eager to learn and impress. The truth, now, is just that I try and to the best job that I can whenever I look after someone else "pride and joy".
That term has such impact in a case like bikes. Owners see their bike sitting in their garage and a warm feeling pours over them. It almost comes to life just because it provides the owner with a sense of excitement, exhilaration, ownership, exclusivity or whatever. So they see it as more than a possession. But when I see their bike, all I see is something that came off a production line. Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely jaded. I still admire a thing of beauty, and I respect a vehicle for the technology it hides (or boasts). But I have had some ridiculous customers who refuse to accept that I've worked on a thousand other bikes, just like theirs.
One day a had a Yamaha R1 on my bench in for a standard service. Everything about the bike was standard. I didn't get to meet the customer because he dropped the bike off early. And I never spoke to the guy because I didn't have anything to report during the service. The bike didn't need anything apart from the standard service; no tyres or brakes or anything out of the ordinary. It was a quick "in and out" job.
The only time I met the customer was when he came in to collect the bike. But I had other jobs to do that day so I only got to the R1 after lunch. And by the time the customer arrived, I was just wrapping it up and getting it off my bench to take it for a road test.
Now I have to stop for a second here because it is pertinent to note the relevance of a road test during a service. Let me emphasise, the test ride is one of the most important parts of a bike's service. It tells a mechanic so many things. Among these, are things that the owner may not have picked up on. But to keep it brief, a test ride can tell us (at best) if the bike is doing what it should be doing, and (at worst) if anything is wrong and needs further attention.
Now that I have that off my chest I can continue. I hadn't met the customer so I didn't recognise him when he entered the shop. I greeted him like any other customer, "Hey, how's it going?"
"I'm here to pick up my bike." This statement immediately let me place this guy in a box labelled "Thinker". There are fifty other bikes in the shop at the moment!! Any one in specific maybe? But keeping calm and collected...
"OK, and which one's yours?" I asked.
"Blue R1," he snapped. He could have been a bit more polite, but I didn't really mind. The point is this: if you feel like collecting a vehicle that is being serviced, call first to make sure it is ready. If you turn up and it isn't ready you are going to get angry with the shop even though they haven't done anything wrong and it all could have been avoided by a simple phone call.
So please, people, call before you come. Anyway...
"Oh, I just took it off my bench. You're a bit early but it's OK because I just have to take it for a test ride." I explained.
"What test ride?"
"Well I've just finished servicing your bike, I have to take it around the block to make sure it's alright."
I didn't go into it too much detail because I was expecting the understanding response of "Oh, OK." But instead, the customer came back with...
"Nobody rides my bike but me!"
I can't remember why I did what I did. It was either because I thought he was joking or I was too amused with the idiocy of this guys. But I couldn't hold it back. My first reaction was to laugh. It wasn't a hearty uproar or anything. Just a little snicker and one side of my mouth curled up.
Then I immediately realised that this reaction could give a bad impression so I focused and tried to explain the reasons we have to test ride bikes after we service them. And I thought I did a pretty good job but...
"Nobody rides my bike but me!"
Again, I tried to assure him that it's a standard practice on every bike we work on. But this guy wouldn't budge. I even explained that we could not guarantee our work if we couldn't test ride the vehicle. If something were too go wrong after the service, a quick road test would have helped us to find a problem. So simple. It's such an automatic thing. We don't even think about it. We think of a road test the same way we think of replacing an oil filter, it's all part of the service. But, of course...
"Nobody rides my bike but me!"
That was the third time he said it. So either he wasn't actually listening or he didn't care.
Two things I'd like to say about this:
Firstly, the point of this blog was to explain how one man's prize possession can be seen for what it really is: a machine, with requirements. When someone shows off their beauty to unassuming viewers, sure, it looks impressive, sounds impressive, yeah it's really fast and I can see why you love it. And they're even impressed how the owner treats it and feels the way he does about it. But don't expect someone who see nothing but the same or similar bikes day in and day out, to think yours is any different!
Secondly, the owner made a huge contradiction which completely makes this article even more poignant. It should be clear that this guy loved his bike. I mean, even though it was relatively new, the bike was immaculate. He took care of it. He loved it. But here's the rub: He loved it so much that he wouldn't let anyone else ride it, for fear they may damage it, or it would somehow magically hold a grudge against him for whoring it out. But the point is he loved it so much, that he did it a disservice.
I have no idea how that bike went. It could have been running like shit and the owner was used to it or thought it was nothing out of the ordinary. Or, it could have been running nicely but I could have made it better after feeling it on a road test. But, no. In essence, he loved it so much that his feelings prohibited him from letting a mechanic complete a service. And don't forget, if you had to let someone ride your bike, who would you prefer? A mate, or someone technically trained who does nothing but ride bikes all day for a living?
I knew I couldn't get through to this guy so I wiped down the bike while the Service manager finished the bill. The guy paid and left. And then I did the only thing I could do, let everyone else who worked in the shop know about the clown I just dealt with, so we could all enjoy laughing about it together.
As a mechanic, I'd like to think like I treat every motorbike that I work on as if it were my own. But I must admit that I only used to think this way when I first started and was still wet around the ears and eager to learn and impress. The truth, now, is just that I try and to the best job that I can whenever I look after someone else "pride and joy".
That term has such impact in a case like bikes. Owners see their bike sitting in their garage and a warm feeling pours over them. It almost comes to life just because it provides the owner with a sense of excitement, exhilaration, ownership, exclusivity or whatever. So they see it as more than a possession. But when I see their bike, all I see is something that came off a production line. Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely jaded. I still admire a thing of beauty, and I respect a vehicle for the technology it hides (or boasts). But I have had some ridiculous customers who refuse to accept that I've worked on a thousand other bikes, just like theirs.
One day a had a Yamaha R1 on my bench in for a standard service. Everything about the bike was standard. I didn't get to meet the customer because he dropped the bike off early. And I never spoke to the guy because I didn't have anything to report during the service. The bike didn't need anything apart from the standard service; no tyres or brakes or anything out of the ordinary. It was a quick "in and out" job.
The only time I met the customer was when he came in to collect the bike. But I had other jobs to do that day so I only got to the R1 after lunch. And by the time the customer arrived, I was just wrapping it up and getting it off my bench to take it for a road test.
Now I have to stop for a second here because it is pertinent to note the relevance of a road test during a service. Let me emphasise, the test ride is one of the most important parts of a bike's service. It tells a mechanic so many things. Among these, are things that the owner may not have picked up on. But to keep it brief, a test ride can tell us (at best) if the bike is doing what it should be doing, and (at worst) if anything is wrong and needs further attention.
Now that I have that off my chest I can continue. I hadn't met the customer so I didn't recognise him when he entered the shop. I greeted him like any other customer, "Hey, how's it going?"
"I'm here to pick up my bike." This statement immediately let me place this guy in a box labelled "Thinker". There are fifty other bikes in the shop at the moment!! Any one in specific maybe? But keeping calm and collected...
"OK, and which one's yours?" I asked.
"Blue R1," he snapped. He could have been a bit more polite, but I didn't really mind. The point is this: if you feel like collecting a vehicle that is being serviced, call first to make sure it is ready. If you turn up and it isn't ready you are going to get angry with the shop even though they haven't done anything wrong and it all could have been avoided by a simple phone call.
So please, people, call before you come. Anyway...
"Oh, I just took it off my bench. You're a bit early but it's OK because I just have to take it for a test ride." I explained.
"What test ride?"
"Well I've just finished servicing your bike, I have to take it around the block to make sure it's alright."
I didn't go into it too much detail because I was expecting the understanding response of "Oh, OK." But instead, the customer came back with...
"Nobody rides my bike but me!"
I can't remember why I did what I did. It was either because I thought he was joking or I was too amused with the idiocy of this guys. But I couldn't hold it back. My first reaction was to laugh. It wasn't a hearty uproar or anything. Just a little snicker and one side of my mouth curled up.
Then I immediately realised that this reaction could give a bad impression so I focused and tried to explain the reasons we have to test ride bikes after we service them. And I thought I did a pretty good job but...
"Nobody rides my bike but me!"
Again, I tried to assure him that it's a standard practice on every bike we work on. But this guy wouldn't budge. I even explained that we could not guarantee our work if we couldn't test ride the vehicle. If something were too go wrong after the service, a quick road test would have helped us to find a problem. So simple. It's such an automatic thing. We don't even think about it. We think of a road test the same way we think of replacing an oil filter, it's all part of the service. But, of course...
"Nobody rides my bike but me!"
That was the third time he said it. So either he wasn't actually listening or he didn't care.
Two things I'd like to say about this:
Firstly, the point of this blog was to explain how one man's prize possession can be seen for what it really is: a machine, with requirements. When someone shows off their beauty to unassuming viewers, sure, it looks impressive, sounds impressive, yeah it's really fast and I can see why you love it. And they're even impressed how the owner treats it and feels the way he does about it. But don't expect someone who see nothing but the same or similar bikes day in and day out, to think yours is any different!
Secondly, the owner made a huge contradiction which completely makes this article even more poignant. It should be clear that this guy loved his bike. I mean, even though it was relatively new, the bike was immaculate. He took care of it. He loved it. But here's the rub: He loved it so much that he wouldn't let anyone else ride it, for fear they may damage it, or it would somehow magically hold a grudge against him for whoring it out. But the point is he loved it so much, that he did it a disservice.
I have no idea how that bike went. It could have been running like shit and the owner was used to it or thought it was nothing out of the ordinary. Or, it could have been running nicely but I could have made it better after feeling it on a road test. But, no. In essence, he loved it so much that his feelings prohibited him from letting a mechanic complete a service. And don't forget, if you had to let someone ride your bike, who would you prefer? A mate, or someone technically trained who does nothing but ride bikes all day for a living?
I knew I couldn't get through to this guy so I wiped down the bike while the Service manager finished the bill. The guy paid and left. And then I did the only thing I could do, let everyone else who worked in the shop know about the clown I just dealt with, so we could all enjoy laughing about it together.
